A New York restaurateur, Millie Graff, is followed home from work by a man who forces her into her apartment and tortures her before killing her. She is found with her hand wrapped around a silver cross on a necklace. She's been gagged, sexually violated and then skinned alive. As Quinn and his associates follow the path of the killer known as 'The Skinner', another woman's desperate search for the truth will bring her into the crosshairs of a killer with a burning desire to settle old scores. Quinn and Pearl must rush to Missouri to confront the monster before yet another life is lost. Praise for John Lutz: "Lutz has produced another procedural masterpiece." ("Booklist"). "A page-turner to the nail-biting end, the fifth Frank Quinn investigation will leave readers breathless...Misleading clues and dramatic suspense will keep readers pondering the intricacies of this twisty, creepy whodunit long after the last page is turned." ("Publisher's Weekly" starred review).

Quotes & Awards

A 2012 Shamus Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original PI Novel

Listener Opinions

Paul Varner | 2/12/2014

" Great detective thriller with an effective format of converging plots. Strong characters like Frank Quinn, Pearl, Fedderman, Sherif Wayne Westerly,etc....chilling accounts of the "serial" murders that made you want to finish the book and "make sure the sadistic bastard was caught" "

Jay | 1/29/2014

" It started off slow but once it picked up it was was great lots of twists! "

Erika Van | 1/18/2014

" I am going straight to the library to look for the first two books in this series! So good, the characters, the suspense, the creepy, gory details... how this author has escaped me up to now I do not know. "

Terri | 1/17/2014

" A brutal serial killer is targeting women who have previously mis-identified their rapists. Quinn & Associates is hired by NYC to help in the investigation. This is truly a horrifying killet. "

Linda | 1/9/2014

" A very good thriller read with lots of twist and turns. "

Lianne | 1/4/2014

" I quite enjoy serial killer plots, and although the protagonist in this one was a bit gruesome, the book stands up well to others in the genre. It's well detailed, both in the plot and characters, and although there sometimes seems a bit too much happening with sub-plots, twists and dead-ends, it all links up well and adds depth and suspense to the story. There are a few things that stop if from being really great, there doesn't seem any great urgency to track down the killer, and there's a lot of detail given to some elements of the crimes that are just forgotten about by the end of the book, but that apart, very enjoyable. "

Kay | 1/2/2014

" I really enjoyed this book in the Frank Quinn series. His books are always a page turner. "

Luann | 11/23/2013

" I enjoyed this one much more than the previous book in the series. Good, creepy serial killer with a twist. "

Christian Cashelle | 11/8/2013

" This is one of the longest books I've read in a while but I could not put it down. The suspense of it all and how everything came together for Quinn and his team was very entertaining and interested. I loved how it went back to the source of everything. Great job! "

Ricardo | 10/26/2013

" This book was a great read. Good pace, interesting plot, and a nice twist at the end "

Blakely | 10/25/2013

" I was on a cruise, so had LOTS of time to read. And I read this one in one day. I probably would have given it five stars if I just hadn't read another book by John Lutz two days before. But if you like serial killers then he is your author! "

Mandy | 9/22/2013

" Nasty descriptions and it dragged after awhile. "

Cindy | 6/8/2013

" This was a captivating book; however, the ending left me cold. It was so far fetched, it pretty much ruined the rest of the book. "

Jimblankenfeld | 6/4/2013

" Great book, can't wait until the next one due out in June 2012 (allegedly). "

Leona | 4/12/2013

" This is the 6th in the series but this is the first of the Frank Quinn series I've read. "

Larry James | 2/17/2013

" I loved "Serial". Absolutely chilling. Lutz's writing style is fantastic. Almost impossible to put down this book. "

Jill | 9/25/2012

" Overall, this book was okay. It didn't get good until toward the end where it everything made sense. This series the Frank Quinn is a little predicatable and sometimes unexpectedly good. I never really know what to expect when I read this series. "

Mike Schneider | 8/28/2012

" This is a good serial killer mystery by a St.Louis author (which we know adds to its value). I enjoyed it throughout and will now go back to read some of John Lutz's many previous novels. "

Marca | 7/1/2012

" Meh. Lots of red herrings or "McGuffins" that were not tied up in the end. But kept reader guessing. "

Tracy Morton | 2/5/2012

" It was good for what it is. "

Shannon | 12/1/2011

" I've never read John Lutz before. I loved the story but I'm not a huge fan of his style of writing. I did like it enough to be interested in more of his books. "

Becky | 11/30/2011

" Great twist that I definitely did not see coming !! "

Leona | 9/26/2011

" This is the 6th in the series but this is the first of the Frank Quinn series I've read.
"

Mandy | 9/10/2011

" Great book! I'm not too big on detective books, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
"

Erika | 8/25/2011

" I am going straight to the library to look for the first two books in this series! So good, the characters, the suspense, the creepy, gory details... how this author has escaped me up to now I do not know.
"

Mike | 8/1/2011

" This is a good serial killer mystery by a St.Louis author (which we know adds to its value). I enjoyed it throughout and will now go back to read some of John Lutz's many previous novels.
"

Other Titles by John Lutz:

About the Author

John Lutz is the author of more than forty novels and two hundred short stories and is a past president of Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. He is the recipient of the Edgar Award and the Shamus Award. His novel SWF Seeks Same was made into the movie Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda. He is the author of two private eye series and divides his time between homes in St. Louis, Missouri, and Sarasota, Florida.

About the Narrator

Scott Brick, actor, narrator, and writer, attended UCLA and spent ten years in a traveling Shakespeare company. Passionate about the spoken word, he has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks, from thrillers and science fiction to classics and nonfiction. He has recorded more than eight hundred audiobooks and won over fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards and several of the prestigious Audie Awards. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and the Voice of Choice for 2016 by Booklist magazine.

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